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Written by Aaron Richter Monday, 28 August 2006 01:43

The key, apparently, is to write songs that trounce decades, centuries even, with a narrative eye that reaches as far back as the Civil War and withheld funds for World War I veterans.

 

Seems as if we've heard this one before. Remember 2005, when our ears were flooded by the sounds of Wolf Parade, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and the Spinto Band. Or the year prior (that would be 2004, I believe), when the Arcade Fire slapped our record collections stupid.

It's the flood of albums that, for good reason, never ceases but, at this moment, figures to be stepping up to the Broken Social Scene-driven (that's five so far if you're keeping track) charge to become the Pavement of the next generation of indie rockers. And now, weighing in as a Chicago quintet, are Bound Stems, whose debut, Appreciation Night, makes fine use of guitar volume and knows how to work a synth to satisfaction, and jumps through so many vocal styles (and, as expected, similarities) that it's difficult to peg the group as sidling up to anyone else's game-or at least not entirely.

What they are getting right (or at least more right than everything else they've triumphed on) is conveying a liquid sense of effortlessness (though notice I didn't say apathy) that feels as if these songs have always existed and it just took these five people making music at this time to capture this collection of harmonies and melodies and occasional dissonance. On "Andover" and "This Is Grand," the über-catchy tosses dice with the repressed noiseniks that don't quite know how to roll with their proper brethren, and on "Book of Baby Names" this bottling of countercurrent elements feels like it's five shakes past an unsoiled birthday sweater—and that's a good thing, natch.

The key, apparently, is to write songs that trounce decades, centuries even, with a narrative eye that reaches as far back as the Civil War and withheld funds for World War I veterans. Bound Stems is not quite your Colin Meloy professor rock, because at no point do these historical swatches feel like a history lesson—rather, more of a kitschy layer that'll bring back ears for closer inspections, though it's uncertain if anything new or profound will actually reveal itself.

It's difficult to say whether Bound Stems will make a lasting dent in this rock scramble (super-saturation is not your friend, guys). But even with everyone chugging in a similar direction, Appreciation Night is still absolutely necessary, at least for the sake of saying "I was there" if this installment of we're-next-isms does indeed pan out in years to come.

RIYL: Wolf Parade, Broken Social Scene, Chicago (the city, not the band)